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Favorite 2013 Thanksgiving Wines, Part 1

I meant to get to this before the big day and sum up wines from the past year I enjoyed that would make good Thanksgiving wines, but the holiday craziness at home and work caught up to me before I could. But regardless, I think this worked to my advantage because there were a lot of wines at the table that I had not had before, so I wanted to do a quick summary of what I enjoyed yesterday. My father-in-law picked a great variety of wines, and the guests brought some additional gems. And its surely helped me isolate a few new wines for the Christmas table.

I drank mostly reds so I can’t really say much about the whites until the dessert wine. Though I know the usual favorite Sancerres and New Zealand Sauvignons were on hand. You know me…

There were several nice Pinot Noirs. The Argyle 2011 Willamette Valley Pinot Noir I have had before and is your average but still enjoyable budget-friendly Pinot Noir from this region. It had the expected berry fruit and a bit of oak but the nose and palate were not overly expressive. A nice light pre-meal aperitif.

The other was Archery Summit 2011 Pinot Noir Premium Cuvée, also from Willamette Valley, Oregon (this is a favorite region as you know). It is a blend of their oldest plantings and Dijon clones from their estate vineyards. It is fermented by indigenous yeast in both steel and oak and blended together. This leans more towards what I expect from here.

We also enjoyed a very dependable 2011 Louis Jadot Beaujolais-Villages. No Nouveau this time. While it would have been just as reliable paired with turkey, we went throught this one before we sat down to eat and it was very popular, perhaps based on my multiple recommendations! Full-bodied and juicy red fruit with the a lovely note of spice.

There was one from a favorite North Fork producer — Anthony Nappa’s “Dieci,” a Merlot-led Bordeaux blend with Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc from the 2010 vintage. It represented Long Island well.

There were two Malbecs. The first being a 2011 Zuccardi Q which I love and wrote up here on the 2010 vintage. The other was a 2011 Trapiche Golden Reserve Malbec. This was a very nice wine as well, the difference being it was a little more subtle and old-world style and tannic than the Q which was a bit more fruit forward. The Q I think is good on its own or with food whereas the Trapiche I’d prefer to pair with food to balance out the tannins. Both are from Mendoza.